Linda Tripp, the Pentagon publicist whose secret recordings of Monica Lewinsky talking about sex with president Bill Clinton led to the his impeachment, died Wednesday at 70.

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 29, 1998 Linda Tripp (R) speaks to the press in front of the Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC, after concluding her testimony before the federal grand jury investigating US President Bill Clinton. Former White House employee Linda Tripp, whose taped conversations with then White House intern Monica Lewinsky triggered the probe into US President Bill Clinton leading to his eventual impeachment, died in April 8, 2020, US media reported.
WILLIAM PHILPOTT / AFP

Her former lawyer, Joseph Murtha, confirmed the death, and US media cited family members saying she died after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
Tripp was a public affairs official of the US Department of Defense when her co-worker Lewinsky, who had served as a White House intern in the mid-1990s, told her she had secretly had sexual encounters with Clinton in the Oval Office.
In conversations Tripp secretly recorded, Lewinsky said the two had had sex on numerous occasions and that she had saved a blue dress she wore during one that still had stains of Clinton's semen on it.
Tripp then took the recordings to independent prosecutor Ken Starr, who used them to expand a separate investigation of Clinton.
Clinton at first denied the relationship, declaring from the White House: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky."
But Tripp's recordings and the blue dress she urged Lewinsky to save as an "insurance policy" blew the case open.
In 1988 Clinton ultimately was impeached by the House of Representatives and placed on trial in the Senate for lying and obstruction of justice. He was acquitted.
The affair made Tripp a villain to Democrats and Clinton supporters, but a minor hero to Republicans.

More from this Category:

COMMENT DISCLAIMER: Reader comments posted on this Web site are not in any way endorsed by Manila Standard. Comments are views by manilastandard.net readers who exercise their right to free expression and they do not necessarily represent or reflect the position or viewpoint of manilastandard.net. While reserving this publication’s right to delete comments that are deemed offensive, indecent or inconsistent with Manila Standard editorial standards, Manila Standard may not be held liable for any false information posted by readers in this comments section.